Sibyls and Sibylline Prophecy in Classical Antiquity, first published in 1988, is an authoritative account of a subject rarely treated in recent decades and difficult to access for non-specialists. A considerable number of books of prophecies went under the generic title of Sibylline Oracles, which rulers consulted in times of crisis, the most famous literary example being the Cumaean Sibyl's advice to Aeneas. But in fact the Sibyls were unusual from other oracles in several respects; most characteristically, they composed discursive verses for distribution to the world at large, as opposed to specific answers to individual inquirers. They thus came to be associated with the interpretation of recent history as much as the discernment of prognoses for the future. In his pursuit of the often elusive Sibyls the author ranges from Heraclitus to Eusebius, from Archaic Asia Minor to Christian Rome, illuminating religion, poetry and politics in the ancient world.

'Burning ice, biting flame; that is how life began' The extraordinary Scandinavian myth cycle is one of the most enduring, exciting, dramatic and compelling of the world's great stories. The Penguin Book of the Norse Myths compellingly retells these stories for the modern reader, taking us from the creation of the world through the building of Asgard's Wall to the final end in Ragnarok. You'll discover how Thor got his hammer and how Odin lost his eye, the terrible price of binding the wolf Fenrir and why Loki the trickster can never be trusted. The Norse myths are as thrilling to read as they are of vast cultural and historical importance. In this gripping book Kevin Crossley-Holland brings alive the passion, cruelty and heroism of these unforgettable stories.

Introducing the reader to the gods and their worshippers and to the ways in which they were related, this book focuses on the ever-present link between the human and the divine in Ancient Egypt. The book also examines the impact of Egyptian religion upon the Judaeo-Christian world. First published in 1973.

Despite considerable scholarly efforts for many years, the last two decades of the Kingdom of Israel are still beneath the veil of history. What was the status of the Kingdom after its annexation by Assyria in 732 BCE? Who conquered Samaria, the capital of the Kingdom? When did it happen? One of the primary reasons for this situation lies in the discrepancies found in the historical sources, namely the Hebrew Bible and the Assyrian texts. Since biblical studies and Assyriology are two distinct disciplines, the gaps in the sources are not easy to bridge. Moreover, recent great progress in the archaeological research in the Southern Levant provides now crucial new data, independent of these textual sources. This volume, a collection of papers by leading scholars from different fields of research, aims to bring together, for the first time, all the available data and to discuss these conundrums from various perspectives in order to reach a better and deeper understanding of this crucial period, which possibly triggered in the following decades the birth of "new Israel" in the Southern Kingdom of Judah, and eventually led to the formation of the Hebrew Bible and its underlying theology.

This book explores the ways in which past cultures have been used to shape colonial and postcolonial cultural identities. It provides a theoretical framework to understand these processes, and offers illustrative case studies in which the agency of ancient peoples, rather than the desires of antiquarians and archaeologists, is brought to the fore. @contents: Introduction 1. From Antiquarianism to Scientific Antiquarianism 2. Archaeology 3. Contemporary Theory and the Archaeology of Religion 4. Minting Identity and Hegemony 5. Dicing and Oracular Gambling at Sirkap 6. The Archive at Sanghol. Conclusion

The texts and visual arts of ancient Egypt reveal a persistent and sophisticated engagement with problems of language, the body, and multiplicity. This innovative book shows how these issues were represented in ancient Egypt and how Egyptian approaches to them continue to influence the way we think about them today.
The story of Osiris is one of the central cultural myths of ancient Egypt, a story of dismemberment and religious passion that also exemplifies attitudes about personal identity, sexuality, and the transfer of royal power. It is, moreover, a story of death and the overcoming of death, and in this it lies at the center of our own means of engagement with ancient Egypt.
This book focuses on the story of Osiris as it is recorded in Egyptian texts and memorialized on the walls of temples and tombs. Since such a focus is attainable only through Egyptian representational systems, especially hieroglyphs, the book also engages broader questions of writing and visual representation: decipherment, controversies about the "ideograph," and the relation between visual images and writing.
This analysis of Egyptian representation leads to a consideration of the phallic body and the problem of multiplicity in Egyptian religion, two nets of Egyptian discourse that, though integrated into the writing system itself, reach toward broader Egyptian discourses of gender, subjectivity, piety, and cosmogenesis. The concluding chapter considers, in specific terms, the question of a persisting Egyptian legacy in the West, from the Greeks and Israelites to Augustine, Hegel, and Lacan.

Theology and Existentialism in Aeschylus revivifies the complex question of fate and freedom in the tragedies of the famous Greek playwright. Starting with Sartre's insights about radical existential freedom, this book shows that Aeschylus is concerned with the ethical ramifications of surrendering our lives to fatalism (gods, curses, inherited guilt) and thoroughly interrogates the plays for their complex insights into theology and human motivation. But can we reconcile the radical freedom of existentialism and the seemingly fatal world of tragedy, where gods and curses and necessities wreak havoc on individual autonomy? If forces beyond our control or comprehension are influencing our lives, what happens to choice? How are we to conceive of ethics in a world studiously indifferent to our choices? In this book, author Ric Rader demonstrates that few understood the importance of these questions better than the tragedians, whose literature dealt with a central theological concern: What is a god? And how does god affect, impinge upon, or even enable human freedom? Perhaps more importantly: If god is dead, is everything possible, or nothing? Tragedy holds the preeminent position with regard to these questions, and Aeschylus, our earliest surviving tragedian, is the best witness to these complex theological issues.

How do we move from an understanding of the administration, scoring, and interpretation of responses on various personality assessment instruments to the ability to put our understanding into words and communicate it effectively to referral agents and to patients themselves? And how do we transmit that ability to students? Teaching and Learning Personality Assessment strives to fill a gap in the literature and in many training programs. The editors have assembled a group of renowned clinicians, noted not only for their own acumen in personality assessment but also for their teaching talent, who present in detail time-tested techniques for teaching assessment. Readers have the opportunity to "sit beside" these seasoned mentors and learn their special skills. Numerous examples illustrate the key concepts. For every instructor of personality assessment who has ever pondered ways to organize a course or to convey difficult material, and for every student who has worried about how to translate theory into practice, in the context of a course or on his or her own, this book will offer enlightenment and provide uniquely practical assistance. It will be important reading for psychologists and trainees at every level of experience. Its clear style, vivid anecdotes, frank discussion of disagreements in the field, and innovative ideas make it an excellent text for both introductory and advanced courses.

Ariadne Staples provides an arresting and original analysis of the role of women in Roman society, which challenges traditionally held views and provokes further questions.

This is a study of an anonymous ancient work, originally composed in Greek, titled Joseph and Aseneth. Although relatively unknown outside of scholarly circles, the story is remarkable because of its focus on a female character and its absence of overt misogyny. It has traditionally been viewed as an early 2nd-century C.E. conversion story of Jewish provenance. Kraemer, through her detailed examination of the texts, arrives at conclusions that disagree with previous findings with respect not only to questions of date, provenance, identity, geographic origin and textual relationships, but also to many matters of interpretation.

This is the third of three volumes, first published in 1906, which treat the Egyptian theology of the afterlife. The first volume contains the complete hieroglyphic text of the Book Am-Tuat, with translations and reproductions of all the illustrations; the second, the hieroglyphic text of the short form of the Am-Tuat and the Book of Gates. This volume explores the origin of the Books of the Other World, highlighting and comparing the most remarkable features, with prefatory remarks and a full index to the whole work. The object of all the Books of the Other World was to provide the dead with a 'guide' or 'handbook, ' containing a description of the regions through which their souls would have to pass on their way to the Kingdom of Osiris, and which would supply them with the words of power and magical names necessary for an unimpeded journey from this world to the next

First published in 1902, this book investigates the history and development of early religion from an anthropological perspective. Rather than dealing with religions that grew from the teachings of their original founders, such as Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism, Jevons considers those religions that were practised as a matter of custom and tradition. The title considers such subjects as the supernatural, life and death, animal sacrifice, and the worship of nature. It provides an introduction to the history of religion for students of religion, anthropology and folklore.

Between Magic and Religion represents a radical rethinking of traditional distinctions involving the term 'religion' in the ancient Greek world and beyond, through late antiquity to the seventeenth century. The title indicates the fluidity of such concepts as religion and magic, highlighting the wide variety of meanings evoked by these shifting terms from ancient to modern times. The contributors put these meanings to the test, applying a wide range of methods in exploring the many varieties of available historical, archaeological, iconographical, and literary evidence. No reader will ever think of magic and religion the same way after reading through the findings presented in this book. Both terms emerge in a new light, with broader applications and deeper meanings.

First published in 1989, Among the Gods uses archaeological evidence to explore ancient Greek religion. The book analyses cult-statues and inscriptions to provide a detailed discussion of gods and goddesses, the priesthood, and healing sanctuaries. In doing so, it highlights the external, formal nature of religious practice in ancient Greece, such as pilgrimages, offerings, and hallowed sites. Archaeological records are used to examine both the theory and practice of ancient Greek religion, and to provide context to a variety of Greek myths and Greek literature. Among the Gods will appeal to those with an interest in religious history, archaeological history, and Classical history.

Self-restraint or self-mastery may appear to be the opposite of erotic desire. But in this nuanced, literary analysis, Diane Lipsett traces the intriguing interplay of desire and self-restraint in three ancient tales of conversion: The Shepherd of Hermas, the Acts of Paul and Thecla, and Joseph and Aseneth. Lipsett treats "conversion"--marked change in a protagonist's piety and identity--as in part an effect of story, a function of narrative textures, coherence, and closure. Her approach is theoretically versatile, drawing on Foucault, psychoanalytic theorists, and the ancient literary critic Longinus. Well grounded in scholarship on Hermas, Thecla, and Aseneth, the closely paced readings sharpen attention to each story, while advancing discussions of ancient views of the self; of desire, masculinity, and virginity; of the cultural codes around marriage and continence; and of the textual energetics of conversion tales.

First published in 1981, Divination and Oracles analyses the religious practices of the ancient world as they have been witnessed from Scandinavia to Tibet and Japan, from the third millennium BC until the present day. Divination and the consultation of oracles formed part of the religious practice of the ancient world and are part of the living folklore of the contemporary societies. They are subjects that are of immediate concern to anthropologists and not infrequently to the historians of early science. Written by the specialists in the early history of European and Asian Civilisations, the chapters call on the evidence of the written word of history and the surviving artefacts and inscriptions of archaeology. They describe the different methods that have been adopted and examine the types of question that feature in man's attempt to seek guidance from other powers. The contributions show how an appeal to the irrational can affect the decision of prophet or statesman, or the way of life of farmer or sailor; and how such an appeal can also stimulate scientific enquiry into the cycles of nature. This book is a must read for scholars and researchers of religion, comparative religion, and ancient history.

Sibyls and Sibylline Prophecy in Classical Antiquity, first published in 1988, is an authoritative account of a subject rarely treated in recent decades and difficult to access for non-specialists. A considerable number of books of prophecies went under the generic title of Sibylline Oracles, which rulers consulted in times of crisis, the most famous literary example being the Cumaean Sibyl's advice to Aeneas. But in fact the Sibyls were unusual from other oracles in several respects; most characteristically, they composed discursive verses for distribution to the world at large, as opposed to specific answers to individual inquirers. They thus came to be associated with the interpretation of recent history as much as the discernment of prognoses for the future. In his pursuit of the often elusive Sibyls the author ranges from Heraclitus to Eusebius, from Archaic Asia Minor to Christian Rome, illuminating religion, poetry and politics in the ancient world.

Religion, Culture, and the Monstrous: Of Gods and Monsters explores the intersection of the emerging field of "monster theory" within religious studies. With case studies from ancient Mesopotamia to contemporary valleys of the Himalayas to ghost tours in Savannah, Georgia, the volume examines the variegated nature of the monstrous as well as the cultural functions of monsters in shaping how we see the world and ourselves. In this, the authors constructively assess the state of the two fields of monster theory and religious studies, and propose new directions in how these fields can inform each other. The case studies included illuminate the ways in which monsters reinforce the categories through which a given culture sees the world. At the same time, the volume points to how monsters appear to question, disrupt, or challenge those categories, creating an 'unsettling' or surplus of meaning.

Delphi, although by far the most prestigious, was not the only oracular site dedicated to the god of prophecy. The Oracles of Apollo in Asia Minor, first published in 1985, presents the first unified account of these lesser-known religious establishments: at Didyma, Claros, Gryneion and Patara. Many Greek communities in Asia Minor turned to Apollo for advice on conduct in their affairs, and it is at the oracles that we can discern the most explicit interaction between normal people and their traditional religion. Oracular interventions in history are examined, as is the organisation of the shrines themselves, and the methods of consultation in the mysterious darkened passages of Didyma or on the bright headland of Claros. The Oracles of Apollo in Asia Minor is accessibly written, does not require a prior familiarity with Classical Greek, and will be of value to students of ancient religion, Greek culture and archaeology.

Ever since its first publication in 1932, Sorcerers of Dobu has been recognized as one of the great triumphs of anthropological research and interpretation in the field of ethnography. A rich source of information on primitive psychology, the book presents sociological analysis of the complex tribal organisation of the Dobuans. Originally published in 1932

Large state temples in ancient Egypt were vast agricultural estates, with interests in mining, trading, and other economic activities. The temple itself served as the mansion or palace of the deity to whom the estate belonged, and much of the ritual in temples was devoted to offering a representative sample of goods to the gods. After ritual performances, produce was paid as wages to priests and temple staff and presented as offerings to private mortuary establishments. This redistribution became a daily ritual in which many basic necessities of life for elite Egyptians were produced. This book evaluates the influence of common temple rituals not only on the day to day lives of ancient Egyptians, but also on their special events, economics, and politics. Author Katherine Eaton argues that a study of these daily rites ought to be the first step in analyzing the structure of more complex societal processes.

Leading spiritual teacher John Philip Newell reveals how Celtic spirituality, listening to the sacred around us and inside of us, can help to heal the earth, overcome our conflicts and reconnect with ourselves. Sacred Earth, Sacred Soul offers a new spiritual foundation for our lives, once centered on encouragement,guidance and hope for creating a better world. Sharing the long hidden tradition of Celtic Christianity, explaining how this earth-based spirituality can help us rediscover the natural rhythms of life and deepen our spiritual connection with God, with each other and with the earth. Newell introduces some of Celtic Christianity's leading practitioners, both saints and pioneers of faith, whose timeless wisdom is more necessary than ever, including: Pelagius, who shows us how to look beyond sin to affirm our sacredness as part of all God's creation and courageously stands up for our principles in the face of oppression. Brigid of Kildare, who illuminates the interrelationship of all things and reminds us of the power of the sacred feminine to overcome those seeking to control us. John Muir, who encourages us to see the holiness and beauty of wilderness and what we must do to protect these gifts. Teilhard de Chardin, who inspires us to see how science, faith, and our future tell one universal story that beings with sacredness.

@text: This collection of applies significant critical approaches to the mythological poetry of the Poetic Edda, a principal source for Old Norse cosmography and the legends of Odin, Loki, and Thor. It also provides useful introductions that sketch the critical history of the Eddas. By applying new theoretical approaches (feminist, structuralist, post-structuralist) to each of the major poems, this book yields a variety of powerful and convincing readings. An essential collection of scholarship for any Old Norse course, The Poetic Edda will also be of interest to scholars of Indo-European myth, as well as those who study the theory of myth